City in Europe

It's been a long time since Manchester City had anything to shout about as far as European competition goes, so it was fantastic to be at Eastlands last night to see them beat Copenhagen and go through to the last 16 of the UEFA Cup. The final in Istanbul still seems a long way off....but with City you never know!

Some random pictures from PTO

A typical Masterclass scene from Photo Training Overseas. Dutch portrait photographer Lies Davidse in action, ably assisted with the reflector by Irish wedding photographer and PTO speaker Paul Callaghan. Like Paul, I had finished my Masterclasses by this time and was able to relax and enjoy watching some of the other speakers. As you can tell from the yellow trousers, Lies is a colourful character and her portraits are equally vivid. You can view her work and see some of her PTO images at http://www.liesdavidse.nl/

Dennis Hyland from the Irish and International group grabs a close up portrait of wedding photography tutor Kelly Hearn from the Simon John Studio. The Irish photographed anything that moved - and most things that didn't!

This was Kelly's first experience as a lecturer. It won't be her last - after overcoming her nerves she really got into her stride and was a natural and confident presenter, not to mention a brilliant wedding photographer.

The Sofitel Taba Heights, our base for the week, is part of the Taba Heights complex on the northern end of Sinai's Red Sea coast. Even though the hotel is modern it's full of interesting features and the the light is fantastic. A photographer's dream!

Nathan doing his Spiderman impression during one of my Masterclasses.

Mia was a natural catwalk model.

Mia and Georgina dip their toes in the warm waters. I must thank Jane Conner-Ziser from Florida http://www.janesdigitalart.com/ for her artistry in retouching this image to bring out the delicate tones.

The crystal clear waters of the Red Sea are a mecca for divers and for snorkelling. Sadly I didn't get the chance to snorkel, but I definitely fancy it for next time.

And finally.....it's that way!

More images from PTO

We had some great fun during the my workshops on photographing children at Photo Training Overseas, but these are some of the quieter moments :

Photo Training Overseas

It's been a hectic couple of weeks on the training front. Firstly a trip to London for the fantastic SWPP Convention where over twelve thousand delegates crammed into the Novotel London West over a six day period. Over a hundred speakers from around the world gave talks and practical demonstrations on a massive array of photographic topics, and the Trade Show covered two floors. Thanks to everyone who came to my seminar on Photographing Children, we had over 100 in attendance and some very positive feedback.

Between then and now I've been to Egypt as a speaker on Photo Training Overseas, the annual week-long event organised by George and Glenys Dawber. Over the next couple of weeks I'll be posting a selection of my my images from the trip, including shots from the training sessions, a few shots around the hotel in Taba and images from a remarkable trip I made with two friends to a Bedouin settlement.

In the meantime, a taster of the images taken during my training sessions on photographing children outdoors :